Angela Merkel is Time magazine's Person of the Year

In the magazine's article explaining why Merkel deserved the honor, Karl Vick praised the German leader's handling of "not one but two existential crises, either of which could have meant the end of the union that has kept peace on the continent for seven decades."

Vick wrote:

The first was thrust upon her—the slow-rolling crisis over the euro, the currency shared by 19 nations, all of which were endangered by the default of a single member, Greece. Its resolution came at the signature plodding pace that so tries the patience of Germans that they have made it a verb: Merkeling.

The second was a thunderclap. In late summer, Merkel's government threw open Germany's doors to a pressing throng of refugees and migrants; a total of 1 million asylum seekers are expected in the country by the end of December. It was an audacious act that, in a single motion, threatened both to redeem Europe and endanger it, testing the resilience of an alliance formed to avoid repeating the kind of violence tearing asunder the Middle East by working together.

Merkel beat out several other notable challengers, including US Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State.